Secret Keeper
by Mondhase
Summary: Lance Hunter always hated secrets. They didn't just destroy his marriage, they messed up pretty much his whole life, and yet over all those years he had been keeping one himself. But he knows that there's one person who deserves to know the whole truth about him, and now he's going to come clean with her even though he's sure that that's not going to be pretty.


**A/N: I'm not overly happy with the new season so far, especially with what they did with the old team, but I love all the new people and I think that Hunter in particular is one of the most entertaining parts of the show at the moment, so here's my take on a possible back story for him.**

**Rated T for brief language, just to be safe, but nothing that wouldn't be in an episode.**

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><p><strong>Secret Keeper<strong>

It had been a very slow day in the new SHIELD headquarters, with no dangerous missions requiring the team's attention or any new HYDRA threat emerging that would have kept them on their toes, but despite all of that, Lance Hunter was extremely anxious as he was pacing the hallway leading to the gym, still trying to make up his mind on how to proceed.

He knew that Bobbi Morse, his ex-wife and legendary villain of most of his countless tales and stories, was in the gym alone, doing her usual workout, and that this was the perfect opportunity to talk to her in private, to get something off his chest that he had been meaning to confess to her ever since she had come back into his life so unexpectedly, but now that the moment of truth was drawing closer, he actually found himself getting cold feet.

He repeatedly considered to just walk away again, knowing that nobody would ever find out about this, but every time he was about to leave, he reminded himself of all the fights they had had in the past and that, if he didn't want their relationship to stay that messed up forever, this was his chance to hopefully change things between them for the better.

So he turned towards the door of the gym one more time and approached it determinedly, only to stop dead in his tracks yet again, the prospect of this conversation possibly turning into yet another fight quickly discouraging him.

"Oh, bugger it," he finally muttered to himself and turned on his heel, but just as he was about to head back to his room, the door of the gym suddenly opened forcefully and Bobbi stood in the doorway, a clearly annoyed expression on her face.

"Hunter, what do you want?", she called after him in an irritated tone, causing the British mercenary to stop and close his eyes tightly for a second, cursing inwardly, before turning around once more to face her, doing his best to look as innocent as possible.

"Me, want anything from you? Why would you think that? I didn't even know you were in there." But Bobbi didn't buy his obvious lie and crossed her arms in front of her chest sceptically, her eyebrows raised slightly.

"Oh, please, you've been pacing up and down that hallway about a dozen times by now, and if you had thought that anyone else but me was in here, i doubt that you would have been that nervous to come in."

Realising that he wasn't going to get out of this that easily, Hunter finally decided to drop the act and admit why he was really here, even though he knew that there was a risk that instead of improving his relationship with his ex, he might just be making things worse.

"Alright," he sighed concedingly, "ignoring the fact that Coulson really should have invested in a place with thicker walls, I'll admit, there actually is something I wanted to talk to you about."

But Bobbi didn't appear to be in the mood for talking, and so she turned her back on Hunter and headed back into the gym, hoping that he would get the message and leave her alone.

"As you can see, I'm a little busy at the moment, so right now is maybe not the best time for that," she replied as she resumed her former position on the weight pressing bench.

But Hunter shook his head as he stepped into the doorway and leaned with one arm against the frame, dismissing her objection.

"No, it's fine, you keep training, I just need you to listen anyway, because there's something I've been meaning to tell you for a long time, something...", he hesitated and took a deep breath before continuing, "something I've been keeping from you."

But even though he had almost expected her to become angry at that confession, the blond agent didn't seem to mind that Hunter was having secrets from her, judging from the faint grin that spread on her lips as she replied.

"What, that you're still desperately in love with me?", she asked jokingly as she started pressing a heavy weight into the air, in her concentration not noticing the almost wounded expression that passed over Hunter's face at her words.

"Haha, no," he replied, but without even a trace of humour in his voice. "Like that's much of a secret, anyway," he continued, but in such a low voice that Bobbi couldn't understand him over the distance.

But as she glanced at him questioningly in return, he quickly moved on, not wanting to make this conversation any more uncomfortable than he already knew it was going to be.

"But I'm being serious here, Bobbi, and this isn't about us, not really anyway. It's about me actually, me and my family." At this point he finally stepped fully into the room and closed the door behind him, not wanting anyone else to overhear what he was going to say.

"You know how much I always hated it when you kept secrets from me-"

"Yes, I think the subject came up once or twice during our marriage," the blonde agent agreed as she pushed the weight in her hands back onto the rack angrily and sat up, giving Hunter an irritated glare as she abandoned her workout for the moment.

Sighing, the mercenary stepped further into the room, clearly frustrated by his ex-wife's behaviour, but doing his best to keep his own temper in check and not to let things escalate into a full blown argument before he had even had the chance to say what he had come here for.

"Oh, bloody hell. Alright, I probably deserve that tone, but I'm actually trying to tell you something important here and trust me, this isn't exactly easy for me, so if you could hold off on the passive-aggressiveness just this once, I'd really appreciate it."

At first Bobbi rolled her eyes at Hunter's request, but as she realised how serious he was about all of this, she finally nodded grudgingly and indicated for him to continue.

"Well, as I said, I never liked it when you kept secrets from me, but the truth is that even while we were married, I've been keeping one from you as well." He could see the expression on Bobbi's face hardening, so he hurried to continue, before she had the chance to say anything.

"I never told you a lot about my parents, did I?", he asked, and the personal subject seemed to soften his ex-wife's mood again, at least for the moment. And while Hunter pulled one of the chairs that were standing at the side of the room closer and sat down opposite from her, Bobbi replied in a surprisingly friendly tone.

"Just that you weren't close, and that your mom died a while before we met."

"Yeah, and that's all true," he confirmed with a sad smile and ran a hand through his short hair thoughtfully as he went on with his story.

"But you see, the reason why I became so distant to them isn't because we didn't get along or anything, but because they've been lying to me. And not just once, but basically all my life."

Bobbi swallowed unnoticeably as she began to suspect where this story was going, but she remained quiet as Hunter continued.

"When I was still a kid, my parents would often be gone for days, weeks, sometimes months even, while they left me with my aunt, and while they always had a really good explanation for why they had to go, I just knew that there was more to it, that they were lying to me or at least not telling me the whole truth. I knew they loved me, of course, but it still made me so bloody angry that there always seemed to be something more important than me, and the older I grew, the angrier I became."

At this point the mercenary leaned back in his chair and stared blindly up at the ceiling, his thoughts wandering back decades.

"I mean, even then I knew they probably had their reasons, but as a child, they were the most important people in my life, and they kept putting me to the side and always left me in the dark about what was really going on, and in a way, I _hated_ them for that."

Hunter fell silent for a moment, swallowing hard as he had become slightly choked up at this point. He had never said a word about any of this to anyone, as it wasn't exactly a fond memory, but going by the look on Bobbi's face, she didn't completely understand his reservations about the topic.

"Hunter, I was your wife, why did you never tell me about that? Why would you keep something like that a secret from me?", she asked, finally managing to pull his attention back to the present and causing the mercenary to look straight at her, the sadness in his eyes startling her.

"Because that's not it, it's not the secret I've been keeping. At least not all of it," he admitted, his expression slightly guilty.

"Then what is?", Bobbi now asked, her voice wary.

"Well, as you know, my mum got sick and passed away a few months before we met, so back then I went home again for the first time in a very long time to say goodbye to her and while I was sitting at her bed alone one afternoon, to keep her company, she suddenly started to tell me the truth without me even so much as asking." He shook his head slightly at the memory, obviously still surprised about his mother's confession even after all this time.

"She was so utterly heartbroken about missing that much of my childhood and she practically begged me for forgiveness for lying to me all those times and then she finally, after years of just watching our family fall apart, explained to me why she and my father had done it. Why they had practically abandoned me as a kid. It was because they were SHIELD agents."

Bobbi looked at him dumbfounded for a moment, but then her expression quickly changed into one of disbelief, as she found herself doubting her ex-husband's story, no matter how sincere he appeared to be.

"What, no, your parents weren't with SHIELD, Hunter. Don't you think I would have found out about that when I did a background check on you? And trust me, I was thorough." The mercenary let out a small laugh at that, as he had no doubt that his ex had looked into every aspect of his life before letting their relationship become serious in the first place, but as he had accepted the distrusting nature of pretty much everyone in the intelligence world a long time ago, he always tried not to let that bother him.

"Yes, they _were_ SHIELD agents, but their files were sealed after they had left the agency. If you don't believe me, ask Coulson. I'm sure he still thinks I don't know about them, but he definitely knows the truth."

The agent still didn't look completely convinced, but at least for now she seemed to be willing to accept Hunter's word as he was obviously completely certain that he was telling the truth.

But the mercenary's expression darkened visibly at his next words, sending an unpleasant sense of foreboding through his ex-wife before he had even said anything.

"Bobbi, I know, what I'm going to tell you now isn't going to be easy to hear, but it'd be nice if you actually gave me the chance to explain myself, before you go on and rip off my head, alright?" He waited for her to nod in agreement reluctantly before continuing, but even then his tone was still slightly worried as if he really expected her to react violently to what he was about to say.

"You remember the first time we met, at that party on the pier? It was still spring, but already incredibly warm and you were wearing that gorgeous dress that made you look like a goddess."

A part of her suspected that his compliments were just a way to get her in a good mood before dropping whatever bomb he was going to reveal, but to her slight annoyance the agent found that his tactic was actually working on her as she couldn't help but smile as she answered him.

"Yes, of course I remember," she replied softly as her thoughts wandered back to that day.

"I was there following a target, and when you started hitting on me, I figured that that would make it easier to maintain my cover, but somehow you actually managed to convince me to go out with you instead.

I mean, I still finished the job of course, but when I came back later that night after the mission had been wrapped up, you were still there as you had promised, waiting for me, even though pretty much everyone else had left at that point," Bobbi recalled, and going by the expression on her face, she still considered this a fond memory, even after the difficult history she and Hunter shared by now.

But the smile on her lips only seemed to make it harder for the mercenary to continue, as he averted his eyes to the floor now, knowing the possible impact of what he was going to say next.

"Yeah, but you see, the truth is that it wasn't a coincidence that I approached you that night. And it wasn't, because you were the most beautiful woman at that party, either, although you absolutely were," he hurried to add, not wanting to get on his ex's bad side any more than necessary.

"No, the real reason why I made a move on you, why I was even there in the first place, is because I knew you were with SHIELD and I was looking for a way to get a foot in the door with them."

The silence that followed that confession was so tense that Hunter almost didn't dare to breathe, while Bobbi looked at him incredulously, trying to wrap her mind around what she had just heard, the startled expression on her face quickly being replaced by one of pure anger.

„So what, are you telling me that you were just using me all that time?", she asked, the emotions in her voice barely held in check.

Hunter chuckled humourlessly at that, which obviously only infuriated Bobbi even further, but the look in his eyes clearly betrayed his disappointment that she would actually think that of him.

"No, love, if I had wanted to use you, I would have gone out with you a few times, had sex with you and then moved on, I wouldn't have _married _you. I admit, at first I was flirting with you to get in contact with SHIELD, but once I started to get to know you, I just fell completely, _madly_ in love with you and my priorities simply changed. And just to make this clear," he continued, emphasising his words by unconsciously lifting his right hand as if he were taking an oath, "it wasn't like I ever had some grand evil scheme to betray you or anything, I had just wanted to find out more about the organisation my parents had been working for and that had always been so much more important to them than me."

At this point Hunter broke off once again and glanced at Bobbi carefully, waiting for her to reply something, but the agent was obviously not ready to say anything else yet, and so he finally went on after a few seconds, unable to bear the heavy silence between them.

"But as I said, over time things changed, and when I started doing the occasional job for SHIELD, it was just as much because you asked me to as it was out of curiosity for my parent's past. I never used you, Bobbi, I never abused your trust in me, and I definitely never lied to you about my feelings for you. I mean, we were happy, right, and that was more important to me than some ancient history, so I had no reason to force anything." He hesitated for a brief moment, his expression thoughtful, obviously unsure how to continue. But when he finally did, there was a vulnerability in his voice that actually surprised Bobbi.

"We _were_ happy, weren't we? I mean, before all the fighting started, and the secrets, and my nagging, there actually was a time when we were just a happy couple, right?"

"Of course we were happy," the blond agent replied, her voice soft and almost nostalgic. "I loved you so much, and I knew that you loved me, and at least for a while that was enough. Until it wasn't anymore. But I think now I finally understand why."

Hunter nodded, obviously glad to hear that.

"You were the love of my life, Bobbi, the most important person in the world to me, but I just couldn't stand by and let you keep secrets from me and lie to my face, not again, not after what I had been through growing up. And I just knew that if I kept letting you do that to me, I was going to end up hating you, like I had hated my parents, and I didn't want to let that happen. So instead I kept bugging you, kept asking questions and pressing you for answers, even though I already knew that you couldn't give me any."

There was a sad smile on his lips as Hunter thought back to that time, knowing that all his stories about his evil ex-wife had been a gross exaggeration meant to hide his own part in the destruction of their relationship and that even though Bobbi hadn't been perfect, either, she certainly never deserved all the things he had said about her in the past.

"But I guess forcing you to push me away somehow seemed like a better way to end our marriage than to become cold and bitter and hateful because of something neither of us could help," he admitted, finally coming to the end of his long overdue confession.

But even though she was clearly touched by his words, Bobbi still looked at her ex with a slightly sceptical expression, unsure about his motivations.

"Hunter, why are you telling me this now? You never said a word about any of this when we were still married, when it could have actually helped me to understand you better, so why now?"

The mercenary nodded in agreement and ran a hand across his eyes wearily, clearly not used to opening up like this to anyone anymore.

"You're right, I know that I should have told you years ago, but back then I didn't want you to see me differently, or to doubt the feelings I had for you. I know that that part of our lives is over and it's too late to save it, but as it looks like we'll be working together more often from now on, I thought that telling you the truth might perhaps give us another chance, you know, to actually get along for once. I guess I just hoped that if you could understand why I was such a terrible husband to you in the past, maybe spending time with each other in the future isn't going to be so painfully awkward anymore."

He stood up from his chair now and already took a few steps towards the door, but then turned to Bobbi once more and continued.

"And also, I figured that with HYDRA and everyone else out there trying to kill us, now might actually be a good time to stop trying to claw each other's eyes out all the time. I'm not so sure if you and me as friends could ever work out, but I thought that at this point, we could maybe at least settle for 'mutually respectful co-workers' instead of arch enemies, what do you say?"

"Sure, we can do that," Bobbi quickly agreed with a hopeful smile, obviously a lot more comfortable and at ease around the mercenary than she had been in years.

"Alright, good." Hunter nodded in reply, but as he was already headed for the door to leave, the agent held him back once more, standing up from the bench in the process.

"Hunter!"

"What?", he asked as he turned back around to her, still slightly wary that this conversation was somehow going to end up in a fight after all, despite all the progress they had made so far. But that just meant that he was all the more surprised as he finally heard what Bobbi had to say to him.

"I know our marriage was often difficult, but just for the record, you weren't a terrible husband, not always. And just because things between us didn't work out, doesn't mean that I don't care about you anymore. So thank you for being honest with me."

At this point Bobbi approached the mercenary slowly and after laying one hand on his shoulder gently, she placed a small kiss on his cheek, lingering only for the briefest of moments, so Hunter wasn't even sure if he hadn't just imagined it. After that, the agent picked up the water bottle and towel that had been lying next to her training station and left the gym, while her ex-husband looked after her, fighting the sudden urge to follow her and try to join her in the shower where she was surely headed now.

But in the end he just shook his head and headed towards his own room instead, knowing that one honest conversation between him and Bobbi wasn't enough to undo the years they had spent hurting each other and that they were probably both better off apart.

But of course, even though a part of him actually believed that, it didn't mean that he didn't miss her, or that his feelings for her weren't growing stronger again every day that he was seeing her right there in front of him, but at the same time still out of his reach.

And Hunter knew that even though Bobbi Morse was the expert when it came to undercover work and deception, she wasn't the only one who could play a part, and that if he didn't play his, if he didn't stay away from her, things would just be headed towards disaster yet again. And they already had enough of those in their lives as it was, without him messing everything up any further.

And so he was going to keep the one thing a secret that Bobbi had never been able to see, when it was probably more than clear to everyone else, and that was just how much she truly meant to him, even though they obviously weren't meant to be.

_**The End**_

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><p><strong>AN: This plotline gets further developed in my story "Poison", so check it out! ;)**


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